va-tic

vatik

adjective literary

describing or predicting what will happen in the future

synonyms: occult, oracular, visionary, prescient, predictive, prophetic

"Jack."

I swatted lazily at the hand shaking my shoulder.

"Jack, wake up."

I groaned and rolled over, only to bump against the wall. A firm hand ripped the covers down my body, and I scrambled to a sitting position, peeling my eyes open.

Jess was there, perched on the edge of my queen sized bed, arms crossed and smiling at me.

"Hey. It's almost two in the afternoon, weirdo." Her own voice sounded a little husky with sleep. "I gotta go. I just wanted to make sure you were okay before I left."

I shook my head and glanced down at myself, remembering now my sleepy stupor, stumbling into the house with Jess, changing into a T-shirt and panties, and collapsing into bed. I mentally assessed myself, forcing my sluggish mind to become alert little by little.

Finally I said in what could only be defined as an unpleasant croak, "M'fine."

"You look like the Grinch stole your Christmas. Or maybe just like the Grinch."

I sighed and collapsed down on my back, casting one arm over my eyes. "Thanks."

"I'd think that drug had some lasting effects if I didn't know you always wake up this way," Jess said with a sigh. "I wasn't kidding about needing to leave, though. I have to meet up with my mom. I accidentally packed her souvenirs from Hawaii in my suitcase, and she's in town today."

"Okay." I removed my arm from my eyes and grimaced a smile up at her. "I really am fine. Not hungover or anything." My stomach gave a turbulent growl. "Hungry."

"Just give me a call later if you need me." She patted my leg. "I also wanted to ask for the details of the job before I go?"

"Oh yeah." I swung my legs over the side of the bed and pushed my bangs out of my eyes. "Sorry. Bad friend."

"Nah, I figured you needed your sleep." She stood and looked around my room. I knew she didn't approve of my clothing organization system. Or lack thereof. "Thanks for letting me crash with you."

"Of course." I waved my hand. "Any time." Deep breath. Clear the mind. I knew I could think first thing in the morning, I'd done it before. Liam's pretty eyes appeared in my mind and I smiled involuntarily. Right. "He said you should go to the club on Tuesday, between one and two in the afternoon. It'll be closed but he'll be there."

"Sounds good." Jess smiled and rubbed her palms nervously on her thighs. "I really do have to go. Mom's probably texting me frantically already."

"Do you want me to come to the interview with you?" I was suddenly concerned, thinking of those two creepy weirdos last night.

"No. He was right, we've run into creeps at clubs before, this one wouldn't be any different. And I'd be as safe as any other bartender. Besides, it would look weird if my friend showed up randomly at an interview. I'll be fine."

"Call me right after." I smiled and waved my hand. "Go, go. I know how your mom gets."

"Okay. Thanks again for talking to him for me. Feel better." She gave me a last wave, then disappeared out of my bedroom. I heard the front door closing with a quiet click a moment later.

I briefly considered falling back onto my bed and burrowing under the covers, but I remembered arranging rehearsal at four. I had to leave in an hour.  After my usual icy shower, I padded into the kitchen wrapped in my towel and fixed a plate of toast and a glass of milk. As I ate, I checked out the word of the day on my phone and cleared out a bunch of spam emails from my inbox.

Feeling restless, I decided to do a little research. I went to my room and opened up my laptop, situated on my desk. As usual, I had my composition program, Sibelius, open to my latest piece. I closed out and opened up a search engine instead. My fingers paused over the keys, not sure exactly what to type. Finally I decided on 'New illegal drugs in Seattle, WA.' I didn't really anticipate finding anything helpful. I browsed some article on a drug developed in Canada, and one from China, but they all appeared to just be normal painkillers, only with bad side effects, and were in pill form.

I'd never heard of one that could affect you just from skin to skin contact. I'd noticed the strange feeling when they were touching me, and it had faded right after I'd pulled away. It must be related. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I'd have to press Liam about it, see if he knew anything more. It must be dangerous, if people could drug others in a crowd like that. I don't know what would have happened if it weren't for Jess and Liam, and I didn't want some other girl to find out.

However, for now, I had somewhere to be. I pushed my laptop closed and got dressed in my jeans, graphic T-shirt and heavy boots. Swinging my keyboard, still in its bag from last night, onto my back, grabbing my violin and purse, I made my way out into the dreary afternoon light.

I was the last to arrive at Isaac's as the bus had been running late, but the sight that greeted me was not familiar. As I rounded the corner and started up the row of neat little houses tucked in close together, I saw Devon and Robbie huddled on the steps outside Isaac's front door. They were surrounded by piles of black bags which I recognized as Robbie's drumset, deconstructed. Frowning, I hurried forward, pushed in the rickety gate and making my way up the walkway to them.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" I glanced at the door, which Isaac always kept open, and raised my brows. Firmly closed. "Is it locked?"

Robbie looked up at me and lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Yeah. Really weird."

"We got here ten minutes ago," Devon said, looking irate. He leaned his elbows back on the top step and stretched his long legs down to the bottom one, cracking his back in the process. "Been knocking and shouting ever since, no answer."

"That fucker," I muttered, pulling out my phone.

"We called him, too," Robbie offered.

"Well. Damn," I said again, plopping my ass on the bottom step. "That's not good."

"He may be kind of a douche sometimes, but he's a reliable douche," Devon agreed. "I don't know. At first I was pissed but now I'm a little worried."

"Did you go around looking in windows and stuff? Maybe he's just passed out."

"I looked around, but I didn't see him. Plus, even when he's sleeping he leaves the door open," Robbie replied.

We all wore matching frowns of concern, now. I looked down at my phone thoughtfully. "I think I have his mom's number..."

"Don't bother," Devon said with a grimace. "She's a hardcore druggie, he hates her guts, remember?"

"Lovely." I leaned back on the step as well. "You want to wait a few more minutes?"

"Might as well," Robbie said, fiddling his thumbs together. "Do you guys think he was looking a little... worse than usual, lately?"

"Yeah, he was acting weird, too. I was kinda thinking..." I leaned forward, debating how much to tell them. "Last night, I think I got drugged at the club, and I swear I saw Simone giving the same drug to Isaac yesterday."

"What?" Devon stiffened. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I waved my hand. "It only lasted a few seconds. I haven't seen anything like it before, so I didn't even know what to think at first."

"Well, how did he give it to you?" Robbie asked. "Roofie in the drink?"

"I'm not totally sure." I shuddered a little. "I was just dancing and then started feeling it. But it didn't last long enough for a roofie."

"Guys who do that shit are slime," Devon said, pushing to his feet. "I'm sorry, shrimp. You get a name?"

"No, I wasn't thinking straight, really. Besides, nothing disastrous happened."

"Huh. How do you think it's related to Simone?" Robbie asked from his seat on the steps.

"When Simone was kissing Isaac, I could swear I saw... I don't know what I saw, exactly." I exhaled a frustrated breath. "But something weird was going on, for sure. I think she's a bad influence on him."

"Well there's no doubt about that," Robbie said quietly.

"He was playing better than ever last night," Devon protested. "Seemed really focused."

"Yeah." I tugged my lower lip, and we lapsed into silence.

"Maybe he's just at Simone's place and forgot about rehearsal," Robbie finally said. "I know he hasn't before, but he hasn't had a girlfriend before, just hookups."

"True," I said reluctantly. "Maybe he's more into her than we thought."

"Plus weed can make him stupid," Devon chimed in. "Maybe he just hasn't forgotten rehearsal before because it's always at his house, and he's always here."

"Yeah." None of us sounded really convinced, but we all were silently acknowledging that even if he was in some sort of trouble, there was nothing we could really do about it. We had no idea where Simone lived, or where Isaac had gone last night, and if he wasn't answering his phone, how to reach him. Plus he was a grown man, we weren't his parents. We couldn't exactly tell him to stop seeing that troublesome girl as she's leading him down a path of ruin. Or some other parenty thing.

"I think we should take off." I winced as I thought of the long bus ride home. "No use waiting around for him if he doesn't have the respect to show."

"Yeah. After you and Robbie trekked all your stuff here, too." Devon glanced at his truck. "You guys want a ride home?"

As we packed up our gear and started towards West Seattle in relative silence, I pondered the events of last night. I did remember Liam arguing with Simone before she had left with Isaac. More lists of mysteries to ask Liam about. If I was being honest with myself, I was kind of excited to have more reasons to talk to him. He might be of a naturally grumpy disposition, but he was interesting. And hot. And okay, I liked him, damnit.

When we pulled up in front of my apartment, I hopped down out of the truck. I went around and slid my instruments out of the back, then went to the driver's side and Devon rolled down his window.

"I'll call Isaac again tomorrow, see if he answers," Devon said. "Let's plan on rehearsal next week unless anything changes, and hopefully he'll get back to us."

"Sounds good." I gave him and Robbie a thumb's up. "Let's hope for the best, right?"

"Right," Robbie said. "Tell Jess I said hi."

"Will do." 

***

All day Tuesday, I found myself glancing nervously at my phone, even when it was far too early in the day for Jess to call. I texted her a quick 'Be careful!' first thing in the morning, and tried to ignore it during my lessons. When my last student left at three in the afternoon, however, I hurried into my bedroom to pick up my phone where it sat on my bedside table, and scowled as I saw two missed calls from Jess.

Quickly I sat down on the bed and called her back. It rang only twice before she answered, voice so bright and chipper that I immediately knew it was good news.

"Hello?" she sang into the phone. "Jack! Oh. My. God."

"You got it," I guessed with a big grin.

"Hell yes!" she screeched, and I held the phone away from my ear to dampen the noise.

"Congratulations!" I screeched back, unable to stop smiling. "How did it go? What did he say? What did you say?"

"Okay, I have to tell you everything." I heard her rustling around, then a squeak that was probably her ancient bedsprings as she settled in. "So first, I show up at one because I don't know if he's super into punctuality, he seems like that kind of guy, so I figured better early than late, right?"

"Right." I pictured him briefly scowling at his watch, looking all flustered.

"So I show up right at one, and I have to say that weird pomegranate password again, but then I get right through. And who should meet me, but the owner of the club himself." Jess sighed dreamily. "I swear, I didn't think there were so many handsome men in Seattle. I guess I should get out more."

"What? What did he look like? Was he nice?" I curled my knees up to my chest and hugged them.

"He was super tall and built, like Liam, but he had this kind of... I don't know. Rich powerful guy vibe to him, you know? And his eyes." She gave another gusty sigh. "I could get lost in those. He was funny, too. I think you'd have liked him. He kept me laughing the whole time we waited for Liam."

"Really?" I said carefully. "Do you like him in a serious way, or in an eye candy way?" I was absolutely anti-boss-dating. But Jess had made that mistake in the past.

"Oh my god, total eye candy," Jess said. Then she hesitated. "Well. For now, I mean. I don't know if he's interested. I think he's just funny with everybody, not just me. I didn't get a really flirty vibe."

"Ah, gotcha." I wanted to continue on the subject, but this wasn't about him. It was about the job. "So, did Liam end up meeting you after all?"

"Yes, he showed up right at two o'clock, and he looked pretty mad when he saw me joking around with Mr. Erebos."

"That's the owner's name?" I asked.

"Ajax, actually. I mean, I called him Mr. Erebos of course. But when he first introduced himself it was as Ajax Erebos."

"Wow. Hard to deal with a name like Ajax. Was he named after the cleaner?"

"He said the cleaner was named after him."

I cleared my throat. "So... So Liam came in?"

"Oh! Yes, and he was looking steaming mad. He and Mr. Erebos exchanged a very stormy look, and then Mr. Erebos left, and Liam started the interview. He just asked me about my experience and everything. I got the feeling it was more about the talking than what I was actually saying."

"Like he was just going on intuition?"

"Exactly. Anyway, after a while he just had me make a couple of drinks for him, and he offered me the job, and that was it. He wants me to start as soon as possible, but I told him I'd need to give at least a couple of days notice at work, just to be nice. I'm going to start Thursday night."

"Really?" I heard something in her voice, and I wasn't quite sure what it was. "Nothing else happened?"

There was a long pause, and she sighed heavily. "Look... something else did happen, okay? But it wasn't really anything... it wasn't bad. I just can't tell you about it, because of the confidentiality thing."

I felt my mouth actually drop open in shock. "Are you serious? But confidentiality doesn't count with us!"

"Ugh... I really can't, okay? Maybe I can tell you why, someday. For now just... please, trust me. I can't tell you any more."

I could feel my face screwing up into an expression of curiosity and a little bit of anger. I forced myself to take a few deep breaths before saying anything, and one by one relaxed my fingers from their grip on the phone. "Okay. I understand. I mean, we don't have to tell each other everything, right?"

"Right. I mean, I'd understand if you needed to keep secrets from me. For necessary reasons," she insisted.

"Yes, but you'd also pester me to tell you until I caved."

"True." She chuckled.

"Just... Would you tell me if it was something about Liam? Something that should stop me from being interested in him? Because I am... a little interested in him."

"No, nothing to do with him," she assured me warmly. "And really? You haven't liked a guy more than you liked music in years!"

"I didn't say I like him more than I like music," I protested.

"Mhmm," Jess snickered. "But he still kept your interest for longer than five seconds, so I'll call it a victory."

"A victory for whom? Are you saying you've secretly manipulated me into liking Liam?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it past me," she replied, and we both dissolved into laughter.